Tell Us Dammit

Dammit, we want you to tell us stuff! Tell us what games you think have aged badly, or what games have aged really well?

This isn’t some marketing survey or whatever. It’s an emotional investment in you. Yes, we’re interested in knowing you, Kotaku reader person. You probably know enough about us — more than you even want to, we’re sure. But, hey, we’d like to know about you, too.

Anyway - today's question is...

The games industry moves quickly, and games tend to age poorly as a result. But what games do you think have aged really well? And what games have aged poorly?

Most NES games age pretty well. Some of them are a trip e.g. Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2... young hitler shoots rainbows from his chest to defend himself from enemies... you then climb the rainbows to reach the top of the level... At least that's my interpretation of it :D

I love Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, especially with the JA+ mod. Halo Custom Edition is good too, heaps of custom maps and a healthy online community.
Age of Empires 2 is still fun to play, so is Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds.(Age of Empires 2 with SW units).

Games that haven't aged well, Need for Speed Underground 2, looks terrible compared to Most Wanted and isn't as fun. Lego Island 2 is pretty bad compared to more recent Lego games, the controls are so clunky.

On the other hand, the level design of Half Life hasn't aged well at all. Half way through, and I found myself jumping around an intricate maze of pointless conveyor belts, and realized I was playing a 12-year-old First Person Shooter.

Another one (though much more recent), is Morrowind. Now flame me all you want due to it being my favourite game, but it just has THE BEST fantasy world I've ever experienced. The graphics may suck, but mods and imagination can fix that!

I just think due to Game development times being rushed, AAA's not taking risks and "action" being the only genre, today's games will not hold up as well.

I have to agree. Morrowind has aged very well, even up against Oblivion.
Oblivion may have had the graphics and, I admit, a greatly improved combat system, but Morrowind has what I think really counts.. total immersion into the world you've been plonked into.

I disagree about Morrowind's graphics being sucky. I only played morrowind for the first time a couple of years ago and i thought the graphics were amazing considering when it was made. Although not as high res as recent games, the scenery was absolutely captivating.

Have they fixed it's shithouse engine with any updates or mods? I found it's level and skill system the most amazing in any game I've ever played (gaining experience in armour by getting hit) but it's engine really brought it down.

Bethesda haven't updated Morrowind at all, but there are around 12 billion user created mods online, many of which really help its graphics. as for other games that have aged well, I'm going to say the old UT and Quake games and also Battlezone 2.

I would have to say the rare style platformer on the N64. Going back to classics like conker, jet force gemini and to a lesser extent banjo recently I found them to be clunky and ugly. The nostalgia factor didn't keep me playing for long either. It's a little bit sad because back in the day the were such amazing games!!

WOW! Does that game look terrible these days! IGN gave the game a 9.4 and the graphics a sub-score of 9?! If you've still got it, chuck it in and check out how shitastic the visuals are now haha.

What is most funny about this, is that RAINBOW SIX VEGAS 2 came out a year later, got an IGN score of 8.5 and graphics sub-score of 7.5, yet it looks ten times better than Vegas 1 and STILL looks pretty good now?! hahaha.

It pains me to say it, but Shenmue hasn't aged well. I tried to replay it recently but wanted to throw the controller. It nows seems very slow and clunky. :-(

Games that have aged well are Knights of the Old Republic, and Morrowind. Also, the Metal Gear Solid games. I could pick these up again tomorrow and it would be just like putting on my favourite t-shirt...more comfortable with age.

For me, System Shock 2 would be up there. And Deus Ex. Is my preference got genre showing enough?

The thing I found most engaging and lasting for each was the way the game enticed you to try different strategies, and still felt challenging and rewarding. Sure the visuals haven't aged well for either title, but story, gameplay, concept are all still top notch.

Dragons Breath on Atari ST (or Amiga). I still play this game today and for a TBS it still holds pretty strong against todays. It doesn't have the gloss of newer one (which I prefer) but the fundamentals and deepth are still there. Really good for hotseat play with mates too.

Counter-Strike will always have a special place in my heart <3 The game will always be fresh as long as people continue to make new mods and maps for it. Giving players the ability to create their own mini-games within a game is what keeps it alive for so long.

+1 for anything Fallout. I still haven't finished, despite a good solid 5+ attempts at it. Still break it out when I stumble across it's clunky 3cd case (with that empty 4th slot... where was that expansion...)

All games in the Civilization series have aged well, although it is just personal preference that I don't like the first one as much anymore.
Master of Magic has also aged really well.

Obvious choice for games that don't age well are most movie based titles. They hold a brief appeal to fans of the movie, but then you quickly realise how bad the games are. These games age within weeks or months.

Fallout 1+2 have ages FANTASTICALLY to me.
Also crash bandicoot on psx and super mart kart on snes.
Crono trigger and secret of mana have both aged fantastically too.
Also halflife - i still love that game to bits.

Ones that haven't though? hmmm..

The original mech warrior, possibly #2 as well. The original warcraft (#2 is still pretty good by todays standards), same with Age of Empires.

Warcraft 3, Jedi Academy and Return to Castle Wolfenstein have all aged phenomenally well. I remember the latter two on their hardest difficulty just so I could be done with them, but I still feel compelled to play them again after at beating both of them at least three times.

I think that games that rely on story tend to age better because you can forgive the graphics a bit more, than say a FPS. However if it is a linear game you might not want to play it again because you already know what happens.

I know that I was really excited for the psp port of the original FF tactics. It aged very well and played fine on the psp. but it wasn't as difficult as when i first played it and i knew all the twists in the story.

It was easy to recommend to a friend thou because it was still a quality game. I guess anything that gets a modern port means someone thinks it aged well.

I still haven't played KOTOR 1 or 2 but will do it one day because the story doesn't age.

Story time! I went to an all-girls’ school. My friends and I had that special bond of closeness that apparently comes with synced-up periods and measuring the length of each other’s winter leg hair.
This, obviously, led to a brief era of trying to catch one of the others unawares with the most impressive, most unexpected spank possible. We’re talking sneaking up behind each other in the hallway and laying one down that made the earth shake. If I couldn’t read your palm from the imprint, you weren’t doing a good enough job.